"Ah, the commander in chief deigns to attend one of our meetings…" I ignored the jibe from the Premier as I took my seat across from him.
"I've been busy Merida, surely you've noticed?" I prodded while glancing at the Ministers sitting at the table, most let out silent groans. The massive amounts of new territory the army secured over the past few weeks was becoming a headache for the civilian government. Documenting and initiating survivors into the Union, processing thousands of new citizenship requests. Taking inventory of the thousands of little things the military passed by in their initial sweeps.
"Well, maybe you'll let us know next time you run off and double the size of the Union?" The Premier replied.
"We'll see, am I going to be treated like a lackey in the future?" I asked, a bit of spite dripping from my tongue. The ministers shifted uncomfortably. While I allowed the Premier and his government a lot of leeway, everyone knew who wielded the real power, and it wasn't the elected one. A single order from me, and everything would fall under military control just like the early days.
"Wasn't I to rule? And you to lead?" Merida asked, his voice heavy.
"Maybe we should revisit that topic…" I said quietly and the whole room went silent, one could have heard a coin drop as everyone turned to me.
"Do… do you mean that?" The Minister of Economic Development whispered softly. My eyes never left the Premier's as his knuckles slowly turned white.
I remained silent, no one spoke as the hands of the clock slowly ticked by. My gaze didn't waver, boring into the premier. I could hear him grinding his teeth, his knuckles completely white.
"I'll… withdraw the order." He growled lowly.
"What was that? I'm a bit hard of hearing… thermoberic bombs are quite loud…" I said loudly.
"I'll withdraw the order!" The Premier snarled.
"Good. Is it going to happen again?" I leaned back in my seat.
"No." He growled.
"I'm glad we reached this understanding." I stood, tossing a folder to the minister of economic development as I walked from the room. That was the data she'd requested. The other ministries could go figure it out. George met me outside with a coffee.
I nodded and took a sip was we started walking down the street. "They agreed?"
"Like they had a choice?" I replied, which earned me a chuckle.
"I'll pass the word to stand down… Ivanov isn't going to be very happy about it though, he's been wanting this for months." George said with a rueful smile.
"There won't be a next time. I'm going to sit down and draft some regulations…" I groaned. How I hated to do these dumb things.
"Probably a good idea sir, your chief of staff almost had us roll up the entire division." He laughed while we got into my truck. The last thing I needed was for my military to overthrow the elected civilian government while I was away… the hell made Merida think he could just order the army around? On what authority? It was entirely vested in me.
"Are the others going to be back in time?" I asked, starting the truck and pulling out of the parking lot.
"Sir, I imagine we'll be the last ones there." He replied. I cast him a glance.
"Sir. How often have we had war councils? One of this size too?" George glanced out of the window. The rest of the drive was silent as I drove to headquarters. Sure enough, spying the cars in the parking lot… we were the last ones. George entered the war room ahead of me, calling the room to attention as he did.
"At ease, let's try and make this an informal discussion." I plopped into my seat and glanced at the Generals, finally all present together. Erik, Joseph, George, and Luka… the oldest serving amongst the lot. Zerfirov and Kireyev were off to one end speaking quietly with one another. The newer Marka, Gerkov, Roman, and Rustem seemed a bit uncomfortable in the setting… I found the final two staring at me, Ponatoski and Muller.
"What about the insurrection?" Gerkov asked, mentioning the civilian government.
"It's been dealt with cordially for now." I replied
"Alright, the navy's already done it, the Air Force has done it to a lesser degree. It's time for us to create the corps echelon." I said, my gaze slowly moving around the room.
"Corps? Are you speaking of the army groups?" Erik asked. I glanced down at the file in front of me. Ah… yeah the Soviets don't call them corps.
"I stand corrected. Yes, I envision it won't be terribly long before I get promoted again, particularly since our sweeps are already turning up nests in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Las Vegas."
"Do you have a particular idea on how you want to organize the army groups sir?" Ponatoski asked.
"I'm all ears, I want to hear from my commanders."
"3 tank divisions, a VDV, a naval infantry, and 7 motor rifle divisions…" Joseph mussed.
"I'm not sure if it would be wise to attach my division to an army group at the moment, tied down as it is in Oklahoma City, far from any divisional support." Kireyev interjected, looking around with animated gestures.
"Did my brother increase his commitment?" I asked. The VDV general shook his head.
"The British received orders to pull out, they're only leaving some support staff behind." He replied with a small frown.
"Reach out to their chain of command, see if they need help out east, if you can spare it have a regiment on standby for them." Kireyev nodded, jotting down some notes.
"Way I see it we have two options really. Centralize or disperse our armor." Erik chimed in. The three tank commanders, Luka, Ponatoski, and Muller shared a look.
"I'd rather have our tank divisions backed up motor rifle divisions, give them depth to their punch." Ponatoski said with a small frown.
"I'd much rather have the armor centralized in a reserve, drive the spear in where it's needed." Luka countered. Several sets of eyes shifted to the German general, she shifted uncomfortably and cast a gaze my way. I waited, curious as to her opinion on the matter.
"It would be more sound to disperse the armor, large concentrations will give away our intentions to our foes… and the Americans always seem to be watching." Muller finally said.
"So we'll build three army groups around each of our tank divisions… should we just divide ourselves between them?" Rustem asked his compatriots.
"Seems a wise choice, but which army group will receive the extra motor rifle division?"
"What about the area of operations?" Roman brought up a different point.
"Shouldn't that affect the decision?" George said.
"That's something for the commander to decide." Ponatoski said, bringing everyone's gaze to me. I sighed. It was going to come back to me eventually wasn't it?
"Alright, 1st army group, let's build it around 4th motor rifle division, flesh it out with 3rd and 5th motor rifle divisions."
I turned to look at the map on the wall. "You'll take over northern operations, we'll shift units around by regiments…"
2nd army group… I looked between the Polish and German women for a second. "General Ponatoski, we'll build 2nd army group around your 1st tank division… 2nd and 6th motor rifle division. You'll operate in the eastern and central area of operations."
"So that leaves us with 3rd army group… centered around 2nd tank division, 1st and 7th motor rifle divisions." I glanced at the map and missed to myself for a minute.
"8th motor rifle will join 2nd army group… 1st naval infantry…" I trailed off,. Glancing over at Zerfirov.
"The naval infantry will remain a independent reserve." Zerfirov frowned but nodded, he seemed a bit disappointed.
"Erik, George, Joeseph. You three will take over as army group commanders. Consider it an additional duty in addition to commanding your divisions, if you can't perform both jobs, hand your divisions to your second." The three stood and saluted.
I stood and returned it. Time to get to work on redeployments… again.